Although it may be surreal, I have come to find cases of nearby people who offer their mobile phones without making a basic configuration, even with children who do not reach 5 years.
This is not only a real danger to children, but also for parents, since the child could access purchasing applications, for example, and hire services without your consent – something that has happened in my environment, I have to say, and is more frequent than it seems.
In the use of the Internet, security has to go hand in hand with privacy, especially when it has to do with children who could be exposed to adult content, which is quite common in different social networks, even skipping moderation filters.
According to the latest data from Save The Cildren, in Spain 9 out of 10 minors between 14 and 17 years they claim to connect several times a day to the Internet, and Up to 1 in 3 use the mobile usually before turning 10 years.
Moreover, in the survey carried out at almost 4,000 minors, 37% of adolescents recognize that they know how to skip control measures, mostly due to the absence of technological education of parents.
Therefore, it is essential that parents know how to protect at least the dangers of the Internet and social networks, which are not few, to guarantee their safety without this affecting their privacy.
Beyond parental control, open communication is always vital
With different age limits in their terms of services, minors can access different social platforms that may not be suitable for children. Although the best known are Tiktok and Instagram, there are also communication spaces such as Roblox or WhatsApp.
One of the first issues to be addressed mainly is the communication of parents with children, the basis for setting positive values that reinforce security and privacy ideas, so that they do not share confidential information anywhere.
Fortunately, All systems have software for parental controlthe first thing you should configure so that your child does not end in places or places where he would not have to access; Unfortunately, in social networks, not many times stuck in adults, even for adults.
The parental control of a device, thus, is the first thing you should activate to control which sites your children visit, since it will offer you details about time in different applications, you can block or restrict some apps or, directly, know the location of these.
Even so, it is not guarantee, since they could know how to skip this parental control, providing parents with false security. In this case, there are several additional recommendations if your child is already the right age to use different social networks.
Here the main recommendation made by cybersecurity companies, such as Kaspersky, is that control policies are not based on restrictions, but on understanding and communication.
As children are told not to talk with strangers on the street, this applies to social networks activity, since many users for malicious purposes hide behind avatars that hide their real identity.
In this case, it is best to know who users are behind nicknames or aka that your child speaks on social networks, always remembering that you should not allow its isolation when using a mobile, both to play online and to see publications on social platforms.
To ensure that your children make a safe use of social networks – ampliable to other online services -, you can always talk with them from respect and advise the following:
- Do not share personal information With no online user, since it could lead to personalized extortion campaigns, in addition to the real danger of being cyber -concent groups.
- Always warn about third -party linkswith the aim of reviewing where they carry. Here parents’ safety education is essential, as well as knowing what sites are legitimate and which could be the result of cybercriminals.
- Establish basic standardssuch as time limits on platforms such as Tiktok, or the restriction of content in these, so that it does not end in publications that could affect their integrity, such as videos with physical and verbal violence.
- Educate to be independentsince you will not always be there to protect them. An education in values, always from respecting its privacy, is the best weapon against the dangers of social networks.
- Make clear what permission you have while sailing on social networksas the possibility of accessing chat rooms – some platforms block this by default for minors – always commenting on the potential dangers they could face.
As you can see, raising active communication together with a privacy strategy is the best recommendation to guarantee the safety of minors in social networks. There is no need for great knowledge in technology or a strict education so that they are safe.
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Tags: Tutorial, cybersecurity